SXSW Sydney 2024 Screen Award winners have been announced, with Australian feature A Grand Mockery taking home the Best Feature Film award.
Directed by Samuel Dixon and Adam C. Briggs and filmed on soft luminous super-8, A Grand Mockery follows Josie who leads a life of passive mundane displeasure before his psychic ills deform him and lead him to roam the rainforest hinterlands of Queensland.
Sam Hayes’ coming-of-age film dramedy Pools took home the SXSW Sydney 2024 Audience Award.
The film stars Odessa A’zion as Kennedy, a young adult who pool-hops across a wealthy suburb in Chicago, leading to a cathartic journey of self-discovery.
Thou Shalt Not Steal, a Stan Original Series directed by Dylan Rivers was awarded Best Episodic.
The series follows a young Aboriginal delinquent who escapes a detention centre and an awkward teenager as they embark on a perilous journey across the Australian outback.
Wendi Tang’s Fishtank and Maria Dudko’s Try to Remember, Please tied for Best Short Film.
Fishtank follows a sober woman who must deal with her inability to stop vomiting goldfish when she meets a fish enthusiast.
Try to Remember, Please offers a visceral account of the relationship between violence and memory, and how this can be abused.
Best Student Film went to Ruby and Tom Take a Cake to a Wedding, directed by Australian filmmaker Jack McTaggart.
Ruby and Tom Take a Cake to a Wedding follows a couple who must deliver a wedding cake out of town, trying to get help from family and friends who are too self-involved to care.
Australian psychedelic rock band Psychedelic Porn Crumpets were awarded Best Music Video for the video for their song Pillhouse, directed by Ollie Jones.
The music video features a sci-fi horror scene produced using Claymation.